WASHINGTON, D.C., April 30 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced the opening of the first overseas resident office of the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) in Sydney, Australia. The announcement was made in Canberra by Jemal-ud-din Kassum, Vice President, IFC.
FIAS, a joint service of IFC and the World Bank, helps developing country governments to structure laws, programs and institutions that will facilitate inflows of private foreign direct investment. The advice deals with investment codes, incentives, ownership policies, promotion institutions and strategies, and a wide range of other policies that affect direct investment by foreign firms. FIAS was established by IFC in 1985 and has since worked in more than 85 countries.
The new FIAS office in Sydney will be the focal point for managing the FIAS program in Asia and the Pacific. This has been the largest FIAS program and has served six to eight countries a year. The office will be partly funded for a three year period by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand and will provide the base for increased advisory service to Pacific Island countries. The 3-member office will be headed by Mr. Andrew Proctor, an Australian national, who will be Regional Program Manager.
"The opening of the FIAS office in Sydney emphasizes the importance of foreign investment in private sector development. The new office will allow more frequent contact with client governments and improve effectiveness in the delivery of advisory services," said Mr. Kassum.
IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest multilateral source of equity and loan financing to private sector projects in developing countries.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Attached is a list of FIAS projects in the Asia-Pacific region and a biography of Andrew Proctor.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICE
EXAMPLES OF RECENT, CURRENT AND FUTURE PROJECTS IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
RECENT
Bangladesh: Institutional strengthening of the Board of Investment
China: Roundtable on FDI in Infrastructure
Indonesia: Review of Sectoral and Equity Policy Restrictions
Micronesia: Review of the legal arrangements (between the state and national governments) for the management of the FDI system
Philippines: Review of the policy aspects of developing backward linkages between foreign and domestic firms
Thailand: Preliminary Assessment of potential for the Eastern Seaboard Region to be used as a major focus for FDI
Western Samoa: Review of the institutional arrangements for FDI management and the current investment incentives structure
CURRENT
Indonesia: Review of the policy preconditions for successful implementation of a program to encourage backward linkages
Vietnam: Creation of a Framework for Export Processing Zone Development
FUTURE
Fiji: Preparation of an Investment Promotion Strategy
Indonesia: Assistance with the upgrading of the national FDI database
Marshall Islands: Diagnostic Review of the investment environment
Sri Lanka: Institutional strengthening of the Board of Investment
Vietnam: Roundtable on FDI in Infrastructure
Andrew Proctor
Andrew Proctor is Regional Program Manager for Asia and the Pacific in the Foreign Investment Advisory Service, a joint service of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. He joined FIAS in 1992, after 12 years as an economic consultant with a major international management consulting firm. He had also worked for several years with the Asian Development Bank.
Mr. Proctor has both operational and policy experience relating to the promotion of foreign direct investment, having worked for more than four years within investment promotion agencies in the Eastern Caribbean. His Asian and Pacific experience dates from 1973. He has since carried out numerous assignments in the region, all of which have been development- focussed, with most related to foreign direct investment.
From late April 1995, Mr. Proctor will be based in Sydney, Australia, where he will open and manage the FIAS Asia Pacific Regional Office. This office, the first resident office for FIAS, will cover South, South East and East Asia and the Bank Group Member Countries in the Pacific. The office will have the principal responsibility for FIAS activity in the region, though it will also draw on resources from FIAS in Washington, as necessary.
